Forensic science/ Criminology

[Ineverpromisedyouarosegarden]

Dd is considering forensic science and / or criminology.

Possibly law with criminology but has been warned it only really leads to a job in the police. She isn't overly opposed to that but surely forensic investigators work in insurance/ fire brigade etc

Anybody work in this field?

My ds is a senior person in forensic science. She says they much prefer straight science graduates who they can then train. So if she wants to go into forensic science that would be better. To be honest a science degree would be better to give options.
A law/criminology degree could be used as a degree tick box but wont get you into forensics.

I’m wondering how many forensic scientists are actually employed nationally? Are graduates actually getting these jobs in any number? Or is there a big pool of grads for a small number of jobs? The only person I know who did forensic science got nowhere!

Law is better for a law job. Except they are very competitive to get. Criminology has its own jobs but law isn’t one (usually) due to strong competition from many high achieving academic grads. Combining both isn’t that great either for law jobs.

If she really wants law, then she needs to look at the top universities for law or an academic alternative. If she’s not going to get the grades, Criminology might be ok but Law, I think, has better jobs prospects due to breadth of the degree. What is her academic profile?

Forensic science is very chemistry/maths/physics heavy - DD finds that a lot of her cohort have come from a more humanities based set of A levels and have really struggled.

It really depends on what area she works in. I’d advise her to get in touch with the organisations and ask them what their preferred qualifications are.

I’m a Forensic Scientist in a Government lab and we prefer science graduates that we can train. A degree in Forensic Science is not necessary or any advantage.

I wouldn’t necessarily agree that it’s very Chemistry/Physics heavy. We take a wide range of science graduates including biologists for our DNA sections.

Does she know what job she wants to do in the end?

Universities produce far more criminology grads than there are jobs in criminology.

I have a friend who is a forensic scientist. typical day is gazing down microscopes at smears of vomit, for 8 hours. She did a forensic science degree and wishes she had done a biology degree that would give her more options now

I did a law and criminology degree and ended up as a solicitor doing family law, not criminal. The criminology element was totally useless IMHO.

This type of degree could lead to loads of paths outside of the Police - Probation, academics, youth offending teams and so on. Feel free to PM me if you like - I am a Probation Officer 🙂

Fire service have investigators who will say where the seat of fire is and if accelerants used, but they always attend jointly with CSI from the Police if arson/criminality is suspected.

@MooseBeTimeForSnow
Yes. That’s why I advised OP to look at law.

Law with Criminology is a half arsed degree, doing neither option in any interesting depth. If she wants to be a lawyer, law or any other reasonably academic degree subject in which she is likely to be interested and do well is the thing to go for. If she’s interested in criminology then this is a very interesting degree course which can lead to some specific work areas or will be the degree qualification that many employers are now looking for in entry level jobs.

Criminology is more an art subject than science. It's got absolutely nothing to do with forensic science. It also doesn't lead to jobs in the police. If she wants to do forensics then a solid science BSc would put her in a much better position.

Sorry, I did mean to specify a forensic science degree, rather than forensic science generally (DD is almost 3/4 of the way through her FS degree and has had some modules taught alongside the pure science students, which ahs caused issues when the lecturer moans that "you covered that last semester" and they reply "no we didn't, we're FS, not chemistry")

Someone close to me is a criminology graduate working for the Police so there is a connection. It may not be a requirement but it can be informative and useful

@VanCleefArpels yes of course you might get a job with police, but it doesn't necessarily lead to one (contrary to what the National Careers Service state). It's a gateway degree, much like psychology.

@MyVisionsComeFromSoup

Gotcha!

Criminology turned out to be way more useful than I thought. It's a common sense subject. But it depends on what type of Criminology you study.

Leftist? Mainstream?

In my job It's pretty handy.